In the manufacture of garments the conventional method of producing pocket openings is to cut two pieces from the main supply of material, one a welt forming piece and a second flap forming piece. A flap lining piece is then secured to the flap forming piece in a manner to present a finished appearance of the flap edges when it is attached to the garment.
The welt forming piece is first placed face down on the face of the main garment panel and folded into an inverted T-shape. The flap forming piece is then placed in position on one side of the folded welt forming piece over one half of the cross arm of the T-shape. Two rows of stitches are then applied to secure the flap and welt pieces to the main garment panel with one row of stitches passing through the flap forming piece, the double fold of one side of the cross arm and through the main garment panel and with the other row of stitches passing through the double fold of the other cross arm and the main garment panel. A slit is then made in the welt forming piece and the garment panel between the two rows of stitches and between the vertical legs of the inverted T-shaped welt. Then the welt forming piece is turned through the slit with the cross arm portions now extending toward each other from the opposite sides of the slit to substantially close the slit.
If desired the flap forming piece can be first placed on the main garment panel at the desired location and the welt forming piece then placed on top of the flap forming piece with the folding, sewing and slitting to be performed as above. Care must be taken to prevent the flap forming piece from extending across the area in which the slit is to be formed.
As is apparent in the above construction and method it is necessary for the operator to control three separate parts during the placing, folding and sewing operations. This requires skill and dexterity as well as extra time to ascertain that all parts are correctly aligned prior to sewing and cutting to prevent the production of defective garments.